From a heart of infinite longing the youth
Looks out on the world;
"Where, spirit of candor, where, spirit of truth,
Are thy banners unfurled? "O chivalrous chastity, lovely as morn,
The dew on thy helmet, I hail thee afar;
Like Lucifer, beautiful angel of dawn,
I wear thy deep azure, I follow thy star. "Not mammon, not lucre, though white as sea-gulls
The broad sails I watch studding ocean's blue deep,
To droop their gay pennons where dreamily lulls
The tropical breeze, and the Lotus-flower sleeps.
But glory! But honor! The joy of a name
Not written on sand; which for ages will stir
All hearts that are noble, or kindle the flame
Of devotion consuming the rapt worshipper." Thus from heart of infinite longing, the youth,
Looking out on the world,
Cries ever, "Woo wisdom, woo beauty, woo truth; "
The sordid world, jaded with care, answers, "Ruth
Waits on thy wild dreamings, O turbulent youth; "
And with laughter uncouth
Mock's life's fairest banners in brightness unfurled. O heart of the ostrich! Above its own graves
Of innocent hopes the world every day raves,
And moans, with a pitiful droon of despair,
O'er candor and honor, once blooming so fair;
Yet treads with a wanton, unpitying scorn,
To earth every sweet aspiration of morn,
True mark of a soul to infinity born;
Or leaves, to the chance of the desert, the good
Which God, at creating, charged angels to brood,
And martyrs have guarded with rivers of blood.